


xxx. showdown

by tempestaurora



Series: it's okay, we're okay [whumpvember 2018] [30]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 17:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16791721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempestaurora/pseuds/tempestaurora
Summary: Mr Stark knighted him. “You’re an Avenger, kid.”Peter started to smile, and then grew serious. Avengers dealt with the big stuff. Avengers dealt with global threats. Avengers were responsible for an entire planet.Avengers weren’t soldiers, but this was certainly a war.Peter had never been fit for battle, but he turned on his heel and followed after Mr Stark anyway. There was a whole planet counting on him now.





	xxx. showdown

**Author's Note:**

> so we're here at the end, good for us. who's surprised that i'm writing an infinity war fic, huh? anyone put their votes in for me doing that as the final fic of the month?
> 
> i still don't like writing fics that follow movie plots, but i decided on this fic on day one so i've known it was coming all along. i actually don't know the order of events in the movie anymore so like,,, just go with it ok.
> 
> love y'all thanks for reading my whumpvember fics. i'll be taking a few days off and then i'll probably be back with something ridiculous that involves harley keener.

It started on a school bus. A school trip Peter had been half-heartedly looking forward to for three weeks. The hair on his arms standing on end.

A spaceship in the sky over New York City.

_“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE.”_ Peter’s best friend in the world, Ned, yelling this in a bus of panicked teenagers. Well it _was_ a good distraction.

Then there was the fight, the wizard – _the wizard_ – and Peter latching himself to the side of the spaceship, Mr Stark in his ear telling him to go home, the air getting real thin and Peter dipping in an out of consciousness.

The Iron Spider wrapped around his body, strong in all the ways he wasn’t, flexible in all the ways he was. Mr Stark had made it for him. Another suit – _another suit_ , _no way_ – and there was a warm buzz on his skin where the nanoparticles interlocked and communicated.

Peter didn’t go home – he couldn’t when this was the big stuff, right in front of him. This is what the Avengers were going to fight, and he’d be damned if there was something he could do to help and he stayed on Earth, not doing it.

He wouldn’t leave Mr Stark, either. Not in a spaceship, not with evil aliens, and certainly not when it was departing their home planet for the wide unknown of the universe.

(Mr Stark, curled up on the kitchen floor at four AM, a broken mug of coffee pooled at his side as he breathed too heavily, much too heavily, eyes wide and panicked.

Peter, sitting by his side, silent and calm, and staying there until Mr Stark was breathing normal again, avoiding Peter’s gaze and trying to pretend it never happened.

“I get them too, you know,” Peter said, mild, as Mr Stark picked up the shards of broken china.

He glanced over to Peter. “You didn’t tell me about that.”

“I’m telling you now.”

Mr Stark dumped the china in the bin, stepping around the now-cold coffee, in search for a rag to clean it up with. He didn’t look at Peter.

“What are yours about?”

Peter watched Mr Stark with interest. “The building falling on me,” he replied. “Drowning in the Hudson. The Vulture knowing my identity.” There was a twist of a tensed muscle at the mention of the Hudson – _the parachute made to save him tangling his limbs and dragging him down_. “What are yours about?”

“The wormhole.”

“The one above New York?”

Mr Stark nodded. “And what’s on the other side of it.”)

Peter was _not_ leaving Mr Stark to face space alone. Not on his life.

He climbed into the ship as it closed, and soon enough Earth was just a speck in the distance.

-

Mr Stark was rightfully pissed about Peter’s appearance on the alien spaceship he’d been explicitly told to leave.

“You better have a good damn reason you’re here right now,” he hissed, and Peter could already see how worried he was about the situation. Tony Stark was good at hiding his emotions, but Peter was better at noticing them. He knew the twitch in his right eye meant that he was afraid for Peter, knew that the jittering in his left arm said he was afraid for himself.

“Can’t be the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman if there’s no neighbourhood to protect,” Peter replied, then at the raising of Mr Stark’s left eyebrow: “Okay, that doesn’t make much sense, but you know what I mean!”

Mr Stark grumbled, looking over the strange, floating red cape beside him before turning back to Peter. “You want to be a hero?” he asked, and Peter frowned.

“Maybe you don’t know what I mean.”

“Then explain it to me or I’m benching you whether you’re here or not.”

Peter huffed and span on his foot. Far down below them, there was a rather _Squidward-esque_ alien and with the wizard held in some sort of magical paralysis.

“I’m not leaving Earth to die if there’s something I can do about it,” Peter said. “And I’m not leaving you out here alone.”

Peter spare a glance for his – what? Mentor? Father-figure? Generous benefactor? – to find Mr Stark staring at him intently. Peter didn’t recognise this look, but if he had to guess, he would say that it had something to do with Peter knowing Mr Stark’s biggest fear. And Peter’s refusal to not leave him when he faced it.

“Welcome to the big leagues,” Mr Stark said, though he didn’t look happy about it. “First job: what are we going to do about that?”

Mr Stark pointed towards the wizard Peter had already been watching, and he crouched lower to get a better view. An idea danced at the back of his head.

“You ever seen that really old movie, _Aliens?_ ”

-

He had.

The ensuing plan was _awesome._

-

“I’m Peter Parker.”

The wizard glanced down at him, weird floating red cape back around his shoulders. “Doctor Strange.”

“Oh, we’re using our made-up names. I’m Spiderman.”

Dr Strange turned, rolling his eyes and looking over to where Mr Stark stood, a silhouette against a glowing blue window.

“Who is this?” he asked. “Your ward? Your son?”

Peter snorted, and Mr Stark didn’t dignify the question with a response.

“If I turn out to be his son, don’t tell the press, okay?” Peter joked. “Wouldn’t want to take away from the main story of _Massive Fuck Off Alien Invasion._ ”

“Language,” Mr Stark said absently.

Peter sent a knowing look to Dr Strange. “Sure thing, _Dad._ ”

Mr Stark supressed a smile.

-

Mr Stark knighted him. “You’re an Avenger, kid.”

Peter started to smile, and then grew serious. Avengers dealt with the big stuff. Avengers dealt with global threats. Avengers were responsible for an entire planet.

(“Are you telling me it _wasn’t_ a test?”

Mr Stark was smiling, his eyes on the Iron Man suit that he was rewiring the shoulder of. “It wasn’t a test, kid. But you passed anyway, good job.”

“You wanted _me_ to be an Avenger.”

“Yeah.”

“ _Me._ ”

“Yeah, Pete, you. But you made a good and responsible decision – you can continue to protect the little guys us Avengers forget about during the big stuff. And one day, I’ll offer it again.”

Peter blinked. “Really?”

“Sure. You’re the future of all this, you know.”

“Of the Avengers?”

Mr Stark nodded. He didn’t once look at Peter, but Peter was learning that the way he was taking longer than usual in his work meant that he was thinking seriously about the words he was saying.

“Yeah, Peter. Of the Avengers. You’re Junior Varsity right now, but one day, I’d happily hand over the reins to you. When you’ve got a college degree and your voice finally drops, of course.”

“Oh my God,” Peter whispered.

“Yeah, yeah. Hand me the soldering iron will you?” Mr Stark held out a hand and Peter picked it up from the tray. “Just keep practising and you’ll get there one day. Enjoy being the neighbourhood vigilante for a while – when you’re an Avenger, the responsibility goes way up.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, kid. There’s a borough depending on you right now, but there’ll be a whole planet in a few years.”)

Avengers weren’t soldiers, but this was certainly a war.

Peter had never been fit for battle, but he turned on his heel and followed after Mr Stark anyway. There was a whole planet counting on him now.

-

“Where is Gamora?”

“I’ll do you one better, _who_ is Gamora?”

“I’ll do _you_ one better: _why_ is Gamora?”

-

The alien lady with antennae promised not to lay eggs in his stomach and then questioned if she could lay eggs at all. There was a large blue man with red tattoos who asked him which of his parents had been a spider. There was a human, too, who’d held Peter at gunpoint – _that twitch in Mr Stark’s right eye, he was petrified for Peter’s life_ – and also called Thor not-that-attractive.

After Peter and Mr Stark crash landed the ship on a planet of brick-red dust and ruins, he fell into step with this other human.

“I’m Peter,” he introduced.

The guy raised an eyebrow. “ _I’m_ Peter.”

They blinked at each other. The smaller Peter cracked a smile. “Well, this is embarrassing, one of us is gonna have to change.”

The bigger Peter started walking faster and Peter jogged to catch up. “Wait a minute! Did you really meet Thor?”

Big Peter rolled his eyes. “Yes. He’s not all that you know.”

Peter (regular-sized, not little) frowned. “Are you sure? I’ve seen him on TV and I’m pretty sure-”

“Underoos,” Mr Stark called, and Peter looked over. “Stop harassing people with your crush on Thor and get over here.”

“I do _not_ have a crush on Thor,” Peter mumbled, lying right through his teeth.

“Do not be ashamed of your feelings, young spider!” the blue man – Peter was bad with names – said, a cheery laugh accompanying his words. “Thor is a beautiful man! Truly ten steps above all others!”

-

There were moments when Peter forgot that the world was at stake. That people were counting on him; billions of them, some still likely unaware of the alien ship, of whatever this invasion was about.

There was a part of him that wanted the other Avengers here, too. Sure, Mr Stark may have been the best of the lot, but it couldn’t have hurt to have the other Avengers on this alien planet with them.

But they were gone, and Mr Stark didn’t like to talk about them or the mess they’d made in Germany, so it was just the two of them, a wizard, Big Peter and two aliens. Was that enough to stop a war?

-

_Thanos._

(“That’s the endgame, up there,” Mr Stark once said, pointing to the sky, dark above them. “Whoever sent the Chitauri, whoever’s been watching us – that’s the endgame. Thor left Earth to look into something called the Infinity Stones, way back when, and I’d put money on them being central to whatever’s coming.”

“What if we lose?” Peter asked. He pulled his knees to his chest, a blanket around his shoulders. From the roof of the compound, all the lights out, they could see the stars. When Peter had said he’d never seen them before, Mr Stark had pulled him out here.

His mentor scoffed. “I once asked the same thing. You know what Rogers said?”

“What?”

“Then we’d do that together.”)

-

They fought.

By motherfucking God, they fought.

They swooped in and out of glowing golden portals; they danced a dance of bloodshed, of aching muscles and pumping hearts. Blood splattered across the dirt. Broken cries of pain stabbed sharp through the dust-ridden air.

The new blue woman – more vivid than the blue man in every way – fought tooth and nail like she was going to kill herself if she couldn’t kill the titan.

A moon crashed to the surface and Peter hid himself among the ruins of Titan to avoid the fallout.

“Mr Stark,” he whispered, as if saying his name would keep him alive. Still, they were all thrown when the rubble hit the ground and Peter shot webs to catch the others, falling, falling.

“You throw another moon at me and I’m gonna lose it.”

Peter caught a relieved breath at the sound of Mr Stark’s voice. He was still alive, there was still a chance.

-

Mr Stark was skewered on his own blade and Peter let out a cry, Big Peter grabbing his arm to keep him from running into the fight when he had no chance at winning. Thanos bled three drops of blood and Mr Stark bled three hundred.

-

_Together_ meant nothing, apparently.

Because they worked together, and Peter tried to pull the gauntlet off with Mr Stark, the alien lady making the titan sleep, and still, they were thrown apart. Still, Big Peter lost the love of his life to a monster and couldn’t hold back.

Still, together, they were dying.

_Maybe together only works when it was Mr Stark and Captain America. Maybe otherwise, together means nothing._

-

Together meant nothing and Peter heard the echoes of the universe tearing apart at the seams before anyone knew anything was wrong.

-

Dr Strange saw into fourteen million realities and saw only one when they won. He did not say what was needed for that to happen. He did not say who needed to live and who needed to die and who needed to cry on their deathbeds, their fingers crumbling to ash.

-

(Mr Stark picked him up the night he was uncomfortable at a party and drove Peter and his friends to get ice cream and milkshakes.

“Call me anytime, seriously. If you need me, Peter, I’ll be there.”)

(“I’ll tell you if you don’t get mad.”

“I won’t get mad.”

“I got arrested when I got into a fist fight with a guy at an illegal dog ring I was trying to break up.”

“What.”

“I wasn’t in my suit. The officers let me off with a warning and May thinks it’s hilarious… you’re not mad, right?”

“I’m not mad, kid. I can’t be mad at you trying to do the right thing.”)

(Peter poking around the corner of the penthouse, trying to go unnoticed as Mr Stark and Pepper talked in hushed whispers in the kitchen.

“He helps you sleep,” she said.

“Sometimes.”

“It’s not a bad thing, Tony. If he makes all the thoughts in your head go quiet-”

“He does. I just feel more relaxed around him. I can’t tell you why.”)

(A snowball fight interrupted by two superheroes in their metal suits landing in the park. Iron Man joined Peter’s team and Rescue led the other. There would only be one victor, but everyone in the park knew that Pepper Potts played to win.)

(“Come and meet her.”

Peter shook out his hands before he entered. Pepper laid in the hospital bed, a lazy smile on her face. In her arms was a tiny bundle, all soft and quiet.

“This is Morgan,” Tony said, low. “This is your little sister.”

Pepper tore her gaze from her daughter, to Peter. “Do you want to hold her?”

“Can I?”

“Of course, Peter. Here, take care of her head.”

Morgan’s eyes were shut, her hair just a light tuft on her head. The fingers of one tiny hand was curled around the blanket.

“Hi, Morgan,” Peter whispered. “I’m Peter. I promise I’ll be the best big brother you could ask for. I’ll always have gum, and if I ever get a car I’ll drive you anywhere you want to go. You’re gonna be so loved, baby. So loved.”)

(“It’s okay,” Tony promised, pulling Peter close. “We’re okay.”

They weren’t, not really, but they would be.

They would be.)

-

The universe came undone. It unravelled; strands of silk falling lax and drooping. The weaving of existence was pulled apart, piece by piece by piece. Each thread untangled from the great knot of lives, each length of yarn snipped suddenly, the Fates with their shared eye cutting short the years of billions without knowing why.

_Snip._ Big Peter turned to ash.

_Snip._ The alien woman and blue man crumbled.

_Snip._ Dr Strange was taken away on the breeze.

Peter looked to Mr Stark, a pain in his stomach. He could feel them; feel all the lives turning to dust. He could feel the Infinity Stones tearing apart the bodies, destroying the families and clenching their remaining spirits in their mystical grasp.

“Mr Stark,” he said, reaching out a hand. Generous benefactor. Mentor. Father-figure. “I don’t feel so good.”

He could feel everyone, everyone.

“You’re okay,” Mr Stark said. “You’re alright.”

Was he?

Was he?

“I can feel them,” he said, stumbling into Mr Stark’s hands. “I can feel everyone going.”

“Who? How many?”

Peter’s hand gripped at Mr Stark’s shoulder, his mentor – _father-figure, father-figure, father_ – holding him upright, voice by his ear. “Billions,” Peter breathed. Every star in the sky could vanish and it would feel like this; burning out, exploding and then shrinking in on itself.

He heard Mr Stark’s sharp intake of breath, felt the way his body trembled – or was that Peter’s?

He pressed his cheek into Mr Stark’s shoulder, feeling for the solidity there. For the firmness of another body, human life gone uncut.

Peter’s eyes widened as the shiver hit his spine. “Mr Stark,” he whispered.

“Kid. Peter. What-”

Peter held him tighter, held Mr Stark for all he was worth, his arms around Mr Stark’s shoulders, eyes wide and unblinking. Peter stared off at the brick red ruins of Titan. At the orange sky. At the settled dust of people who fought by their side – not soldiers, not soldiers, not soldiers, no, this war was fought with civilians.

“Peter.” Mr Stark’s voice caught on the second half of his name.

“Please,” he whispered. “Please don’t leave me.”

“Peter.”

He felt the unravelling. Felt the coming undone, the silk threads untying, the stars blinking out. There was uncertainty and instability and shaking limbs all around him. _No, no, no._ There was dust and ash and crumbling soot. There were a million pieces where there should’ve been only one.

There was a being, disintegrating beneath his hands.

Mr Stark coming undone. Tony Stark falling apart. Anthony Edward Stark clutching Peter for all he was worth until he was just ash in Peter’s arms.

Peter let out a sob when the final piece of Mr Stark fell away. He dropped to his knees, the dust swirling up in the breeze.

He looked to his hands where ash stuck to the suit Mr Stark had made him.

_Please don’t leave me._

_Peter._

(“Even if I’m an Avenger one day,” Peter said in the living room of the penthouse, his feet propped up on the coffee table, “you’ll still be here, right?”

“As an Avenger? Probably not, but as me, right here? Kid, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, Peter. I’m gonna watch you take on the world. I’m not planning on missing that.”)

-

The blue woman, eventually, pulled Peter to his feet. She led him to the space craft she’d arrived in and watched his hands tremble, the pieces of Mr Stark still stuck between his fingers. She moved throughout the ship with ease, returning to his side a moment later with a small, glass vial, that she scraped the dust into, before pressing into his hands.

“What planet are we going to?” she asked, voice echoing with cold.

“I don’t care,” Peter replied, eyes on the vial in his hands. “As long as it’s not this one.”

The ship rumbled to life beneath his feet and Peter watched Titan grow distant through the windows. He thought about Mr Stark and the wormhole; the one he’d been dreaming of for six years, and the promise of an endgame.

He thought about _together_ and how that didn’t work, about the Avengers and how they weren’t here to help Peter hold Mr Stark up in his final moments, about Earth and the weight that was now on his shoulders.

He thought about Mr Stark, telling Peter that the Avengers would be his one day. Telling Peter that he’d be something great. Telling Peter that he would watch him do it.

Peter stepped up to the cockpit where the blue woman was staring out at the vast, open universe that looked no different, despite how empty it now felt. Peter would have nightmares about this for years to come, he knew in an instant. For Mr Stark, it was the wormhole and for Peter it would be the darkness of the night sky and the void that laid there.

“I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “We’re going to Earth.”

At least then, he could take what was left of Mr Stark back home.

**Author's Note:**

> i've never seen a fic where tony crumbles to dust. now i have.
> 
> (yes those are glimpses into the other 14 million realities where peter and tony are happy and yes that is how peter got arrested as mentioned in the 'drugged' fic, thanks to all those who pestered me about finding out how that happened.)
> 
> thanks for following along with whumpvember, it's been a ride.
> 
> love y'all bye


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